Late at night.
Kakashi, who had been sleeping soundly on his bed, suddenly opened his eyes, a faint red gleam flashing within them.
Then—whoosh!—he shot up from the bed, his face expressionless, moving like a zombie as he walked step by step toward the outskirts of Konoha.
Kakashi's strength was formidable. After a brief clash, he quickly dispatched the two guards at Konoha's gate.
Once outside the village, Kakashi continued moving northwest, his destination set straight for the Land of Earth!
And soon enough, this news reached Tsunade's ears.
"What? Kakashi defected from Konoha? That's impossible!" Tsunade said in disbelief.
The ANBU member reported awkwardly, "It's hard to believe, but it really did happen."
Tsunade rubbed at her temples, her head aching.
"Why does everything have to happen at the same damn time?"
Shizune, who stood beside her, suddenly remembered something.
"Kakashi-sensei came by the Hokage's office this morning. He seemed to have something very important to say, but at the time you had been summoned by the Daimyo..."
She hesitated, then added, "Could his leaving the village now be connected to whatever it was he wanted to tell you?"
Tsunade frowned thoughtfully, then looked toward the ANBU.
"What about him—have you brought him back?"
"One squad has already been dispatched. We believe we'll have Kakashi-senpai back very soon," the ANBU answered.
Tsunade nodded.
"Good. Bring him straight to the Konoha Ninja Hospital the moment you recover him. I'll see for myself what condition he's in."
...
Land of Earth.
Mount Shumisen.
Inside a cavern, Hiruko sat cross-legged, eyes closed as he remotely controlled Kakashi.
Suddenly his expression twisted, and he slammed his fist angrily against the cave wall.
"Those meddling Konoha ANBU! They actually dragged Kakashi back again!"
One of Hiruko's lackey's, watching his master's rage, quickly tried to flatter him.
"My lord, Konoha has many ninja with kekkei genkai. You don't need to fixate only on Kakashi. (◔◡◔)"
Hiruko shot him an annoyed glare.
"You think I need you to tell me that?! As if I didn't already know! (′д｀σ)σ"
"Kakashi is someone I marked long ago. More than ten years back, I planted a curse mark inside his body precisely for this moment, so I could control him when the time came."
"But now... Konoha is on high alert."
"Trying to capture another kekkei genkai ninja as a replacement? That's easier said than done!"
The weaselly subordinate pressed on.
"My lord, isn't there still another kekkei genkai wielder outside of Konoha?"
"You've heard of the Red-Haired Shinju, right?"
The moment those words left his mouth—
SMACK!
Hiruko backhanded him across the face.
"Are you trying to get me killed?! (ꐦ ಠ皿ಠ)"
"Do you have any idea what that guy's record looks like?!"
"Even if I successfully absorbed five kekkei genkai and fully mastered the Chimera Technique, I still couldn't say with certainty that I could suppress him!!"
The underling looked pitiful and muttered, "I only thought of it for your sake, my lord..."
"After all, Shinju wields multiple kekkei genkai. If you could obtain his abilities, your strength would skyrocket! ◕‿◕"
"My lord, in today's shinobi era, battles are all about exploiting information gaps."
"We know everything about Shinju's abilities—but he knows nothing of ours."
"If we used that gap, we might just land a fatal strike, catching him completely off guard..."
Hiruko paused at those words, his fury cooling as he began to seriously consider it.
In terms of sheer power, he was absolutely no match for Shinju.
But if it came down to trickery and ambush... maybe there was a chance! ୧⍢⃝୨
If he could pull it off, he wouldn't just gain the Sharingan—he'd also seize the incredibly powerful kekkei genkai: Wood Release! ⸜(๑˘ᵕ˘๑)⸝⋆*
Thinking it over again and again, Hiruko clenched his teeth.
"Fine. We'll ambush Shinju!"
"You two go find out Shinju's current location!"
Just as Hiruko made this difficult decision, another subordinate burst in, panicked.
"My lord! Bad news! A massive iron bird just flew!"
"Iron bird? Are you sure you weren't seeing things?!"
Hiruko gasped sharply.
He had studied Shinju, and he knew of the man's strange techniques—including those bizarre iron constructs he created.
"Well, well... talk about a gift dropping right into our laps!"
A woman clad in a skintight leather outfit—Ni—grinned.
"My lord, let me use the Chimera Technique to give that red-haired punk the beating he deserves!"
Hiruko hesitated briefly, then nodded.
"Very well."
...
Meanwhile, high above the Mount Shumisen.
Inside the aircraft, Naruto slumped in boredom.
"Shinju, are we there yet?" he asked.
"How much longer till we see the big bad guy? I can't wait to slam him with a Rasenshuriken... (´∇ﾉ｀*)ノ"
"Should be around here," Shinju replied from the cockpit.
"By the way, didn't you say you wanted to learn how to fly this thing? Why am I still the pilot?! (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻"
Naruto scratched his head and laughed.
"There's so much weird stuff on this control panel, no way I could memorize it in a short time. No rush, no rush. (◍˃̶ᗜ˂̶◍)"
"Anyway, I wonder how Sasuke's injuries are. Do you think his body might reject those eyes and leave him blind forever?"
Shinju reassured him.
"I performed the surgery myself. Don't worry. He could lose an arm or a leg, but going blind? Not a chance. ＜(￣3￣)＞"
...
Somewhere in an underground base.
The masked man carefully unwrapped the bandages covering Sasuke's eyes.
As he did, he said, "I've already told you the truth. Whether you believe it or not—that's entirely up to you."
Once the bandages fell away, Sasuke's eyes were revealed: sharp and clear, black and white, brimming with life.
The masked man's story wasn't much different from the version Shinju had once told Sasuke—except this time, he exaggerated Itachi's suffering, twisting the details.
He highlighted Konoha's "evil" and "hypocrisy," painting Itachi's fate as tragic, his sacrifice for his younger brother profound.
After confirming that his vision was clear, Sasuke looked up at the masked man.
"In the first story I heard, you also took part in the Uchiha massacre."
The masked man didn't deny it.
"Yes. There were some people Itachi couldn't bring himself to kill, so he entrusted that task to me."
Sasuke's voice hardened.
"If you truly are Uchiha Madara, then why did you slaughter your own clan?"
The masked man fell silent.
He turned his head slightly, gaze lingering on the wall behind him—lined with countless Sharingan.
Hiss~
How was he supposed to explain that...
Sasuke caught the hesitation in his expression and stopped pressing the issue.
Instead, he asked, "If you really are Madara, then let me see your Sharingan."
"They say you killed your own brother to awaken the Eternal Mangekyō."
The masked man nodded at that, slowly lifting his mask to reveal the right half of his face.
The instant his crimson Sharingan was revealed—
Whoosh!!
A jet of black flames suddenly ignited!!
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
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